


The Kira Corp. Investigation

by spacark



Category: Inazuma Eleven, Inazuma Eleven GO
Genre: Comedy, M/M, Spy Kids (Movies) References
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-10
Updated: 2020-06-18
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:21:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 10,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24106648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spacark/pseuds/spacark
Summary: Kira Corporation’s image is slowly getting better and better, the more their associations with previous owner Kira Seijirou disappear as Hiroto becomes the ever-loved new face in the company. Hiroto, however, isn’t fully satisfied yet and wants to keep working on putting the company in a positive light, extensively making use of the company’s hidden-from-public’s talents. And his latest plan involves the teenagers Kariya Masaki and Kira Shuugo, who both make excellent youthful faces to promote it. And why just make a little commercial video when you can have the two teens star in a company-located spy movie?
Relationships: Kariya Masaki & Kira Shuugo, Kiyama Tatsuya | Kiyama Hiroto | Gran/Midorikawa Ryuuji | Reize
Comments: 22
Kudos: 22





	1. The Job Offer

**Author's Note:**

> Special thanks to @witch_mix for the inspiration and input for this fic, and @Melsketches for also enabling Kira Shuugo Appreciation Moods :)

“I’m hooooome…” Kariya sighed as he launched his school bag aside just after the entrance, kicked his shoes out, nicely placed them in the drawer (if he didn’t, he’d have problems with Midorikawa – and that’s the last thing you want) and finally put his slippers on. As he made his way through the apartment’s hallway his call was answered by one of the other inhabitants of the house. “Good evening, Masaki! How’s your school day been? Did practice go well?”  
The questions were asked by Kira Hiroto, who looked as cheerily as ever for a sleep-deprived CEO of a pretty big business. Sometimes Kariya would, in his mind, compare the poofy side parts of Hiroto’s red hair to those of dog ears, because he could SWEAR that whenever Hiroto wasn’t in a good mood, these tufts definitely were far more droopy. He just stared at it for a second to gauge Hiroto’s mood until Hiroto further inquired. “Anything wrong?”  
Kariya blinked and was taken out of his zoned out moment. “Yeah, I’m good.”  
“And practice?”  
“The usual – we only needed to go to the nurse’s office once and that was because Kurama of all people skinned his knee. Pretty hilarious actually-“  
Hiroto snickered. “Poor lad. But sounds like Raimon is as active as ever.”  
Kariya checked the clock. It was actually pretty early for Hiroto to be home on this day. Usually the weekly company drinking session would be undergoing at this time. Although Hiroto never seemed to be much of a company owner who’d have his salarymen undergo that kind of social events in the company. “You’re back early..?” Kariya questioned. “But where’s Ryuuji?”  
“He’s out doing groceries. But we can help prepare dinner already, of course. Can you wash the rice?”  
“Will do,” Kariya said as he walked towards his room to get changed out of his uniform before getting into the kitchen. He stopped mid-track. “But that doesn’t answer-“  
“Family night!” Hiroto cheered. Kariya decided to not question it. Except, he really should have.  
  
\- - -  
  
Kariya blinked, sighed, shook his head, sipped his drink. All while trying to maintain continuous eye contact with at least one of the two others in the room. “I’m sorry. You want me to do _what_?”  
“Co-star in a promotional movie for Kira Corp.” Midorikawa repeated.  
Kariya put his glass back down on the table. “Why.”  
“Because we’re asking you to.”  
“… Okay, hold up. At least _explain_ , then.” Kariya groaned, very unsure about the whole idea.  
Hiroto nodded. “We’re still at the start of a new phase for Kira Corp – one for which we’re working hard to regain the trust from the general public. Sure, it’s been ten years since that trust was broken, but there’s only so much that time heals.”  
Kariya almost regretted asking for context. He didn’t want to hear a sob story, he wanted to hear why they’re asking him to _be an actor._ Hiroto didn’t pay attention to the pained look Kariya gave him and continued. “- So, simply said, we have to keep putting the company in positive light. After some thorough brainstorming, we settled on the idea that a promotional movie would be the best.”  
Midorikawa chimed in to the story. “Of course, we could present company numbers and present overall skills, but we decided to have a short movie to better present what the company is like and capable of.”  
“… And how is that supposed to involve me?”  
“We want you and Kira Shuugo to star as the protagonists! Youthful faces do well, and you’re both well related to the company that we can ask you of this.”  
“Wait, senpai as well..?”  
Hiroto was confused for a slight second, then lit back up. “Oh, yeah! He’s also in Raimon’s football team, right? As for why we also picked him, half of the idea came from his mother. Since he’s an official Kira relative, his parents want to have him get recognized by the public as a potential Kira heir after me. Or at least associate his face with the Kira brand.”  
“Isn’t that a threat to your position?” Kariya inquired, tilting his head like a confused dog. Hiroto nodded. “Yeah, but I don’t really mind. Kira Corp will always remain a family business. I’m theoretically only filling in until father gets released from jail. Practically speaking, that’s… _unlikely,_ but I’ll have to consider the future of the company already.”  
“… Oh.”  
“Anyway, the both of you will star in a spy-like movie shot in the corp! Hope you’re looking forward to it!”  
“Wait, wait – wait! I hadn’t agreed to anything-?!”  
Midorikawa smirked lightly. “You have little choice, Masaki~ Our company’s success depend on you~”   
Kariya felt a cold feeling run over his back. The way Midorikawa phrased that, it was _terrifying._ And what did he mean, no choice?! That’s not right at all! He hastily tried to retort. “Is this… is this even allowed? To force me to participate in something shown to the public?”   
“Well, in the legal case of this, you’d only need permission from your parents or guardians to get you recorded. And with us _being_ your legal guardians…”  
“You’re a villain, Ryuuji.” Kariya hissed at Midorikawa.  
“Oh, no, no, not me. The real vill-“  
“Hack! Enough of that.” Hiroto laughed. “Anyway, Masaki. Can you please cooperate with us on this? We want to keep this a secret project for as far as possible.”  
  
Kariya tried to think about it hard. He didn’t really _want_ to participate, but on the other hand, maybe there was something good to come out of it? “What’s the reward?” he inquired skeptically. Hiroto smiled, feeling like the teamwork was beginning. “We’ll buy you something nice. A TV in your room with a game console, maybe? Wasn’t there that Samurai Eleven game you kind of wanted to try?”  
“Oh..!” Kariya gasped, his eyes lighting up a little, revealing the child in him. “Really?”  
Midorikawa also pitched in. “It’s a special occasion outside of your birthday, so we could get you something, yeah. More importantly - by my request, we’ll celebrate the recording at an all-you-can-eat buffet. At a place with _very_ good desserts.”  
“Ah…” Kariya was thrilled. His own TV? He’s never had one! And a game console he didn’t have to share with others? Even more incredible! It was also true he’s gotten curious about Samurai Eleven. But he never wanted to openly admit it. How did Hiroto figure that out?  
Sold. He was sold. He supposed he got pretty easily bribed into this, but to get all that? It was an opportunity he didn’t want to pass up. “Okay, I’ll help.” He nodded proudly. It was okay to every once in a while satisfy his guardians. After all, they’ve done a lot for him. If he can help them get the company a nice reputation again _and_ get to play Samurai Eleven in exchange, then that’s all okay.  
  
… Ah, but were things really going to go so easily?   
  



	2. Preparations

A couple weeks passed with not many mentions of the recording session, except Kariya knew which day he had to keep free. At school, he _intended_ to not deal with Kira Shuugo so much as to not raise suspicions, but the other had a whole different idea of how to get things done.  
“Mornin’, Kariya!” he had already cheered at him one of the early days of the project. Kariya had given in to hand him his phone number, which he almost greatly regretted. 

**[ Kira ]** [12:03] _Hey, wanna hang for lunch?_   
[ Kariya ] [12:04] _why_

“Something wrong?” Kageyama had asked Kariya any time he made a pissed off look at his phone. “Spam.” Would usually be Kariya’s answer.  
  
**[ Kira ]** [12:04] _I’m outside your classroom rn  
  
_Kariya would, after reading, reluctantly get up and head outside to deal with Shuugo. “Hi, senpai.” He’d sigh, but then force an innocent smile after seeing his face. Sometimes he’d think about how Kira Shuugo and Kira Hiroto were _nothing_ alike (although understandable – they weren’t even blood related anyway) and grin a little.  
After a couple vague chats the first week, the second week Shuugo had started to ask Kariya to practice football with him. They both considered it an interesting idea – a striker training with a defender, plus supposedly through football you’d learn a lot about each other. After hanging like that a couple of times, Shuugo had even used this connection to call for a shared training session between the first and second Raimon teams. After a few of those, they’d even have a friendly match between the two teams. It went on and on like this. Sometimes, Kariya and Kira would clash a little over stupid things. Sometimes, they had some sort of understandings. Most of the time Kariya wondered when Kira would start leaving him alone and hoped that after the movie production that’d be the case.  
  
The weeks went on. Midorikawa and Hiroto started making longer nights at work regularly the sooner the fated day was in reach. Except for just the evening before.  
  
“Welcome home, Masaki.”  
“Oh hey, Ryuuji. You’re early?” Kariya wondered aloud as he walked further into the living room, watching Midorikawa cook up something behind the counter.  
“Hiroto sent me home early to prep some dinner and treat him to the leftovers when he’ll be back.”  
“Oooh.. He’s preparing for tomorrow, right? I could’ve just gotten some take-away if it keeps you both busy.”  
“Thoughtful of you, Masaki, but our little star needs to be properly fed. And I have to make sure you catch enough sleep too, so you’re going to bed by 10 the latest. No phone.”  
_Yikes_ , Kariya thought to himself. He checked the clock. 7 PM, so he’s still got a couple more hours. “Oh, Ryuuji?” he asked, leaning over the counter and attempting to grab one of the stray bits of edible food, but Midorikawa swiftly pushed his arm away. “Patience is a virtue. What’s up?”  
“Movies tend to have a script, yeah? You forgot to-”  
“Oh, did I forget to tell you? We don’t have a script. Only a route you have to follow through the building. They’re marked with yellow arrows that’ll remain off-screen. Where not possible, we’ll have someone off-screen direct you. That’s all.”  
“What?!”  
“We want the two of you to go through it as naturally as possible! All I’m asking is to just pretend you’re a spy. Beyond that, free for all. Just watch your language- it’ll have to be a kid-friendly movie.”  
“That’s still a lot of rules for ‘act natural’…”   
“I know you can do it, Masaki. You definitely know how to act, after all…”  
“… Is that why you picked me?”  
“Maybe~”  
“Gross.” Kariya said as he unloaded his homework on the counter and got started on it. It thankfully wasn’t a lot – and as soon he finished, dinner was also ready. He cleaned up his homework space as Midorikawa handed him his dinner. As Kariya started munching on the vegetables, he tried to pry a little more about the setting he and Shuugo were to be thrown in the next day. “So, anything else I have to keep in mind tomorrow?”  
“I’m not going to spoil the surprises, Masaki.”  
“Hah,” Kariya sighed, biting on a couple more veggies. “So do we’ll have spy gear or something? Weapons?”  
“Maybe.” Midorikawa grinned.  
“…” Kariya shot a slight glare. If there was anything he hated, it was being left out of the loop – but this? This was even more frustrating. Why did Midorikawa have to be so _secretive_ for someone who wants this commercial success? Still, he had to try to at least get something else. “What about special effects…? Will they be edited in later?”  
Finally, Midorikawa opened up a little. “Live. We’ve got a lot of specialists for them in the company, yeah?”  
Finally! An answer! Kariya nodded. “What about them?”  
“A lot of them have been sticking around for years, because they’re afraid of potential new employers realizing they’ve participated in Alius business. Of course, they’re great assets we’d rather not lose, but if we can keep improving Kira Corp’s image we can also help them not be ashamed of their past work.”  
Kariya almost dropped his food. That wasn’t the kind of information he was looking for. Instead, he got only _more_ pressured about the dire need of a commercial success. And what wasn’t helping is that this lack of directing so far really made even _him_ pretty damn nervous.  
“Right.” He said as he picked up his food again and shoved the last bits of it down. As soon as he finished, his phone buzzed.  
  
**[ Kirino ]** [20:06] _Kariya, how’s your secret project going?  
  
_He squinted at the message. He hadn’t told anyone about this. If he did, it would absolutely spread like wildfire in the first team. Or had Shuugo spilled the beans? But why to Kirino of all people?  
  
[ Kariya ] [20:07] _what  
_[ Kariya ] [20:07] _secret project?  
  
Kirino is typing…  
_  
**[ Kirino ]** [20:08] _You were nervous all day. Don’t think I can’t tell._  
**[ Kirino ]** [20:09] _Actually, I overheard that the second team’s Kira had some ‘top secret’ project with someone on our team  
_**[ Kirino ]** [20:09] _And he seems to like hanging with you  
_**[ Kirino ]** [20:10] _So, how’s it going?_

He sighed reading the messages and watching Kirino type more and more. So Shuugo did mention it.  
  
[ Kariya ] [20:11] _no idea yet  
_[ Kariya ] [20:11] _it’s as much as a secret to me how this’ll go_

 **[ Kirino ]** [20:12] _No wonder you were so nervous, then  
_[ Kariya ] [20:12] _I’m not!!_  
  
**[ Kirino ]** [20:13] _Let me know how it goes :)  
_[ Kariya ] [20:13] _no  
  
_He tucked his phone away. Midorikawa snickered from the other side of the counter, having started on washing the dishes in the meantime.  
“What?!” Kariya nearly shrieked at him. Had he been reading along with the messages?  
“Your face reading those messages… sometimes you’re really an open book, Masaki.”  
Kariya grumbled as he grabbed a cloth to help clean up. In the meantime Midorikawa seemed to remember something useful. “I hope you didn’t have anything planned for tonight, since I bought a foreign movie for you to get in the mood. _Spy Kids_?”  
It wasn’t really what he was looking forward to do tonight, but at least it’d give him maybe a couple pointers on how to act. “For educational value, you’d best just watch it in English so it’ll help you with your classes, too.”  
_Ah. There’s the trouble. English._  
  
“Well?” Midorikawa inquired after the end credits rolled. Kariya shrugged in response. “If you would’ve let me watch this in Japanese it would’ve almost made sense.”  
“… Did you forget to turn on the subtitles?”  
“… I was allowed to?”  
Midorikawa laughed. “More importantly, got a little inspired?”  
“I guess I have a general idea of it now.”  
“Good! Well, time for you to head to bed. Hiroto should be coming home anytime soon, I hope.”

Knock, knock.

Kariya checked his alarm clock. 1:03 AM. Why was anyone knocking on his door at this ungodly hour? It was especially odd considering Midorikawa was so hellbent on having him head to bed on time and catch enough sleep. But here _someone_ was knocking on his door. It wouldn’t be Midorikawa, right? Did Hiroto come home this late?  
  
Knock.  
“Yeah, yeah…” Kariya answered, drowsily, trying to get up. His door opened and someone quietly stepped in. It _was_ Hiroto. “Masaki?” he asked, in a tone that almost was like drunk singing. “You up?”  
“You did just wake me.”  
“Sorry! But…” he shuffled closer to the bed and kneeled down next to it. “Sorry for being late, but about tomorrow…” Hiroto glanced over to the alarm clock. “Oh, today, I suppose…”  
“What’s it?” Kariya groaned. With every second that Hiroto took longer to get to the point, Kariya felt his sleeping rights violated.  
“It’s about Ryuuji…”  
Kariya tried to sit a bit more upright and rubbed his eyes. “Huuuh…?”  
“Ryuuji, at work, he’s… different. Be polite, okay? Yeah, goodnight! Thank you, Masaki!” Hiroto stumbled back up and quietly walked back to the door.  
“What..?” Kariya tried to ask, confused. But Hiroto didn’t properly respond anymore. “Good night, okay!” Hiroto cheered as he closed the door.


	3. About to get started

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to Work Mode!Midorikawa. Fear him,,,

”Kariya! Get up! _Stat_!” A fully dressed Midorikawa opened Kariya’s bedroom door harshly. “Breakfast is ready and I need you to eat it within the next fifteen minutes or we’ll be _late._ And we can’t have being late. We agreed to picking up Kira at 7:50. Come on, go on!”  
“Don’t forget to breathe while talking.” Kariya hissed under his own breath as he tried to grab his clothes to get dressed. It was just 7:05 am, what was the issue? Kariya calmly got dressed, until it suddenly hit him. Had Midorikawa just addressed him as _Kariya_? That was a rarity. As in – he’d only be addressed by his full name if he was in Serious Trouble, but this was only half of it, so why would he do that? Kariya wasn’t given much time to worry about why exactly as the green-haired man suddenly stood in front of him, a dark aura emanating. His eyes were all but friendly. They looked like they were ready to destroy public buildings. “You have _six_ minutes left to eat your breakfast, Kariya.”  
He felt a cold shiver run over his back. Midorikawa shot a glare throughout the room, directing his attention to the red-haired colleague of his. “ _Boss,_ you forgot your tie.” Hiroto gulped and ran full speed back into the bedroom. Midorikawa tapped his watch while looking back to Kariya. “Make that _five_ minutes for you.” Terrified, Kariya ran over to the counter and sat himself, trying to eat as much of the breakfast as he could while he felt Midorikawa’s ice cold glare piercing in his back. _What the heck._ Is this what Hiroto tried to warn him about?  
When he almost dropped one of the bowls, he grew extra nervous. Midorikawa was still in the room, fully prepared. Hiroto ran back in with a tie that he tried his best to knot, but Midorikawa’s dark radiating energy really made both him and Kariya only stumble more. “Boss…” Midorikawa glared, stepping over to Hiroto in order to fix the tie. The only thing louder than Midorikawa’s steps were the heartbeats of both Kariya and Hiroto, pumping up to inhuman beats per minute in fear of the green-haired secretary menace.  
  
The fear made the ride to the other Kira household feel like a huge blur. Midorikawa still seemed agitated, but at least not ready to lash out. Well, except for the time Kariya had tried to ask a question from the back seat and started it with _Ryuuji._ The glare he got back only meant one thing – He had to follow Hiroto’s advice to be _polite._ Rephrasing his question and saying Midorikawa instead did save the mood there.

Kariya checked his phone once more. Seems like Kirino had sent another message.  
  
 **[ Kirino ]** [7:36] _Good luck :)  
_ **[ Kirino ]** [7:37] _Also don’t worry, I haven’t told anyone  
_  
[ Kariya ] [7:40] _why are you so interested??  
_ **[ Kirino ]** [7:41] _Just wanted to wish you good luck :)  
_ **[ Kirino ]** [7:42] _I’ll be watching Shindou’s recital today, but let me know how it went!  
_ [ Kariya ] [7:43] _again, no_  
  
In the meantime, Hiroto managed to drive them safely to Kira Shuugo’s place, arriving at 7:45. Well on time, thankfully. At the appointed time, Kira Shuugo entered the car and sat himself on the backseat next to Kariya. “Thanks in advance for the ride, Kira, Midorikawa. Hey, hey, Kariya.”  
“H…hello, Kira-senpai.” Kariya responded the greeting, nervous about whether Midorikawa’s mood also meant he had to properly address Shuugo as well.  
Kira laughed. “I told you it’s okay to drop the senpai. After all, we’re equals in football, yeah?”  
Kariya did not want to even _try_ with Midorikawa’s presence around. “But in class you’re senpai.”  
Kira Shuugo scratched his head. “Then Shuugo’s fine by me too.”  
“… Shuugo-senpai.”  
“Whew, that’s a rare one to hear. But it’ll do, Masaki.”  
Kariya wanted to _protest –_ there’s only a couple people out there who address him like that, and that’s the couple seated on the front seats in the very same car they’re in. On the other hand, he and Kira were in an odd distant way relatives, so it would also make sense to be a bit more friendly. And they’ve been hanging a lot too in Kira’s one-sided attempts to get to know him better.  
  
It didn’t take long for them to get to the company building. Midorikawa, Kariya and Kira separated with Hiroto, who went on his way to another part of the building and greet the attending employees. Midorikawa stayed behind to keep an eye on the teenagers and get them through the preparations.   
“Midorikawa-san.” Kariya addressed his guardian with such forceful politeness, it almost embarrassed the both of them. Almost – in the end, only Kariya felt a bit weird about it. “- What are we supposed to do right now?”  
“First up, we’ll have to collect your clothes, get you dressed, run through the plan again…”  
  
And so they did. They retrieved a couple boxes in a meeting area near the entrance and got a reminding lecture of how the route through the building was set up. Midorikawa then quickly moved on to the next important task. “Here are your outfits! Kariya, you can get changed in meeting room A-07 here to the right. Kira, the room next to it, A-08. It should take about five minutes tops to put these on. See you at 8:45. Go on.”  
Kariya gulped. So really, _this_ was work-minded Midorikawa that Hiroto suffered in his daily life?  
He and Kira locked eyes, mild fear visible in both pairs. They nodded as they took the outfits and then each moved into their own room to get dressed. Both of them individually wondered how it would be humanly possible to get dressed in these…ridiculous designs in five minutes, but they somehow managed to run back into the hallway to meet Midorikawa again just in the nick of time. Both with a face filled with distress – and with Kira still trying to put the coat he was given on. “Midorikawa…” Kariya groaned, attempting the polite attitude towards his guardian again, but dropped it fast. “Who _designed_ this?!”  
Kira pinched at the coat he was now wearing. “Likely the company’s fashion design department. Judging from these design choices, it’s also the one responsible for…” _The Alius team kits._ Kira stared at the mostly gray with orange accents uniform he wore under his coat. There were a couple odd-looking belts and rings. Generally, it was very reminiscent of the design of the Gemini Storm team. Kariya was dressed in a far more futuristic feeling white-and-gray design, that didn’t really feel like much for a ‘sneaking spy’ vibe, but the designers probably wanted to go for an interesting match by basing his uniform on the Genesis team.  
“Correct.” Midorikawa nodded. “It’s a company project after all, where we show off our best.”  
Kariya gave the outfit he was wearing another close look. It was tight – way too tight – and had a lot of odd looking parts. Wait – if it was based on Alius, wouldn’t Midorikawa have at least tried to make sure it was less obvious? At least one of these two designs he and Kira were wearing must’ve been way too familiar to him. Kariya inspected Midorikawa’s face to find a trace of emotion, but it was lacking. Work mode Midorikawa really seemed to go without emotions. Suddenly Midorikawa reached his hands full speed at Kariya’s shoulders. He flinched and jumped back. Making a mental note of how this awfully designed outfit actually offered incredible mobility, he ended up in a heated staring contest with his guardian. “What.” He hissed.  
“You put the belts on wrongly.” Midorikawa answered monotonously as he reached out to Kariya’s shoulders again, pulling at one of the several strange looking parts in order to fix those.  
The moment Midorikawa properly fixed it, Kariya took another look at his outfit. It really was a devastating view. But he also _knew_ that the moment he’d now still try to complain, he’d probably have to sleep out on the streets for a week or something. Or get grounded in a very terrifying manner. Neither seemed a more safe outcome. He strongly regretted going along with this. But it was for the sake of the TV and video game… he could do it. Maybe he could make sure that nobody he knew would end up watching the promotional video, as well.

“Recording starts in an hour.” Midorikawa explained to the two. Both of them got a little annoyed. Kira spoke up first. “Then why did we have to get dressed this fast?”  
“Can’t be late.” Midorikawa deadpanned. “You’re dressed, but there’s still the visage. Let’s go.”  
  
If he was able – or allowed to drag the two teenagers along by their collars, he would have. Instead he had to keep a ‘ _chop chop, go on’_ mood going to drag the two down to a dressing room where their faces would be attacked with a lot of make-up. Kira seemed to struggle less with this part – he’s gotten a little used to photoshoots – but Kariya would be like a cat clawing all around. Whether it was a good thing or not that Midorikawa wasn’t watching over in this situation, nobody could tell.  
Once they finally were freed from the dressing room, Midorikawa had returned and handed Kariya an object. “Don’t forget about this.”  
It looked like a visor. He wished it had reflective glasses so nobody could properly see his face on the big screen. Sadly, they didn’t. He put the visor on and awkwardly tried to pose in whatever spy-like pose he could think of. “Is this really okay…?”  
In the meantime, Shuugo tried to put on his extra prop – a communicator device, that really suspiciously looked like those used by certain people from the future. Kariya decided to not mention it.  
“We’re looking pretty cool, yeah?” Shuugo asked in response to Kariya’s half open-mouthed stare at his face. He closed his mouth in response and Shuugo grinned. Kariya couldn’t tell if Shuugo was genuinely joyful or just laughing as a coping mechanism. If anything, laughing didn’t suit his stern-looking face, so he must’ve been embarrassed.  
  
“We’re heading to the starting point. As soon as recording starts, you’ll get a box thrown at you with a riddle in it to solve.”  
Kariya sighed using his mischievous grin. “Is it wordplay thought up by y-“  
“Kariya. No complaints.”  
He gulped and straightened his back. “I-I’m sorry-“  
“We’re starting in ten minutes. Are you ready?”  
“Actually,” Shuugo admitted. “I could use a drink.”  
  
Somehow, Midorikawa didn’t explode. He actually made sure both of them got a glass filled with some fresh juice, served with a straw as to not get anything on their face. The teenagers happily sipped the juice, peacefully wishing for the moment to at least last any longer. But before they could barely finish their drink, Midorikawa appeared in front of them to remind them it was time to get ready for the recording and forced the children back towards the main entrance of the building. He directed them to the view of the first mark that showed what route they’d have to take.  
  
Recording was about to begin. Kira and Kariya were placed at their starting position and the both of them awkwardly cheered each other on. “Feeling ready, Masaki?” Kira asked.  
Kariya nodded and lied with a gentle smile on his face. “Always been, Shuugo-senpai.”  
  
“Recording starting in five… four… three… two… one!”


	4. Exploration

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kira and Kariya start their exploration of the Kira Corp's building and encounter their first challenges.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter Kariya uses a proverb and I hope Midorikawa is proud of him for that.

  
As promised, an object was thrown at them from off-screen. Shuugo caught the tiny parcel without much trouble and started opening it. Kariya stood half beside him trying to peek at the contents. “What is it?” He asked, pretending to sound a little worried.  
“… Paper? A message?” Shuugo said as he tilted the box slightly towards the camera crew so they could zoom in on it as he took the paper out. Kariya was bugged by this movement as he couldn’t see the paper at all, but when he realized Kira did it for the camera, it made a little more sense. Did he have experience with this kind of stuff? Was Kira Corporations always ridiculous with little movies?   
Shuugo dropped the box and unfolded the paper. “Kariya… it seems we’re being threatened.”  
“H-huh? We are?” Also, hey, _Kariya_? Kariya was grateful that they went back to formalities.   
“Look at this,” Kira poked the paper. “Read it.”   
Kariya squinted at the paper. The writing on it made _so absurdly little sense,_ of course it had to be Midorikawa’s work. “Errr…” Kariya tried – he really tried – but couldn’t figure it out at all. He decided to bluff it rather than embarrassing himself this fast. “We’re holding something dear hostage, meet me in the office, I think it says something like that?”  
“Huh? Yeah, absolutely. Thought the same. Let’s go.” It seems like Kira couldn’t figure the contents out either.   
The both of them dramatically turned around to face the office building, Shuugo crumpling the paper in his hand. “We must be prepared to fight, Kariya.”  
“Yes, Kira-senpai.”   
  
They entered the building. Slowly, cautiously and wondering what to expect in there from now on. The entrance hall was at least the same as earlier – _thankfully_ none of the employees were skilled enough to build a set in it in just a couple of minutes. If any employee had managed to make it a super dark setting just after they finished their drinks, that would be such a superhuman feat they shouldn’t be working at a corporation like this, but rather some kind of Earth defense task force or something. In case something like aliens would appear (again, but this time demanding something else than football). Still, _anything_ could happen in this scene that was probably scripted for everyone that participated but the two teenagers themselves. Sometimes Kariya would look back and notice how the camera crew was just following along. Wait – where did Midorikawa go to? Wasn’t he staying? Or was he so upset at the two of them giving up on his riddle right away?   
  
“We’re here – Kira Corporation.” Shuugo stated, as blunt as he sounds.  
“Yeah.” Kariya nodded, not really knowing what else to say. “It’s quiet.”  
Both of them kept their mouth shut as they walked towards the end of the hall and noticed the arrow signaling they had to head left. Kariya shrugged and spoke up again. “I suppose calm only means there’s a storm to come.” In the back of his mind, Kariya hoped the usage of a proverb was enough to obtain Midorikawa’s forgiveness. “Rather have that than this quiet,” Shuugo said as he scratched his neck. “This is definitely uncomfortable.”   
“Yeah? Right! I agree.”  
“We should fight something!” Shuugo beamed. Kariya sighed. “We probably will. We got threatened, yeah?”  
The both of them made eye contact. For once, they understood what the other was thinking. ‘ _Will we really fight? We totally bluffed the whole threat.’  
‘Oh damn right we did. But Midorikawa will beat us up for it anyway.’ _  
  
They entered the next hallway. There wasn’t anything much suspicious going on here either. They both settled on it being reasonable that there wasn’t much that could be done. The further they walked in, the more eerie it got, however. There were a couple of strangely colored lights – some red, some purple, some green – and every so many doors a smoke machine was covering the floor with a light mist. “Watch out,” Kariya grinned. “M-Maybe something will be in the fog…?”   
“… You scared, Kariya?”   
“Huh? No! Not at all.”   
As the lights flickered more and more and the fog got slowly thicker, the both of them decided to remain quiet again so they could make sure to at least hear if anything were to suddenly appear.   
  
C r a c k !  
  
“Stop making noise, Kariya!” Kira hissed.   
“What?! Me!? You were the one that stepped on that scrap paper and almost ripped it in two!”  
“No? I didn’t?”   
Kariya pointed at his feet. “Then explain that.”  
“… It magically appeared.” Kira reached down to grab the paper. “Oh, great. It probably has another code.”  
“Suppose that’s how it’ll unlock the next room. How.. convenient. Guess we’ll best solve it.”  
“Yeah, yeah. Uh… let’s see…” Kira read the text to himself, then looked up towards the camera crew. Kariya grabbed the paper from his hand and tried to read it too. “You kidding me…?” **  
**Now Kariya also looked at the camera crew with a huge frown on his face. Shuugo pushed his back, hissing something that sounded like _‘just do it!_ ´. Kariya stood more upright and waved his arm forward while Shuugo did something similar. Both of them sighed lightly as they empowered their pose more. They inhaled as Shuugo counted down from three.   
“Enjoy 20% off on the first year of your insurance contract with Kira Corp!”  
  
A loud click was heard. The smoke machines seemed to be turned off, making the path more visible. The flickering multicolored lights seemed to gradually calm down too. The two sighed in embarrassment. They noticed someone on the camera team gave them a thumbs up, making the both of them sigh again, but with a little smile. They turned back to walk towards the door, while whispering at each other. “Can we never do that again?”  
“Midorikawa will kill us if we refuse, I guess.”  
“He’s not even watching…”   
  
The hallway led them to an elevator. They wondered how it would work with the camera team, but as soon as they opened the elevator they found a little note stuck on the elevator wall.  
  
 _[Go to the 4 th floor, then wait a couple meters in front of the elevator until the team joins you. :)  
\- Hiroto ]   
  
_Kariya eagerly clicked the button for the fourth floor, although he was more than tempted to just pick a whole different floor altogether and make a huge run for it. The way Shuugo scratched his foot against the floor, he might’ve felt the same. The door closed.   
“Why did Hiroto sign this…?” Kariya wondered aloud.   
“To cheer us on?” Shuugo shrugged. “It’s nice.”   
“Anything better than that dumb advertising earlier.”  
“It is a commercial video, still, yeah?” Shuugo said. “You did pretty well! Nice pose, Masaki!”   
“You looked absolutely ridiculous, Shuugo-senpai.”   
“Huh? Still not dropping the senpai?” Shuugo inquired, completely ignoring the insult.   
The elevator door opened and the two of them stepped out, walking towards the floor marking and just waiting there as they watched the elevator go down again.   
“I wonder what really comes now…?” Kariya sighed as he looked into the dark hallway.   
“Maybe spiders.” Shuugo joked. Kariya paled. “I hope not.” He uttered.  
“Oooh, you’re afraid of them?”  
“No. I just don’t want to get crawled over by something even worse than your noisy attitude.”   
“Hahaha!” Shuugo laughed as the elevator made a ping noise and the crew came out of it. Some of the crew seemed slightly surprised to see the two teenagers right in place. Kariya grinned during this distraction and slid his hand under Shuugo’s sleeve. “Senpai, a spider!” he shrieked. Shuugo jumped in surprise at the touch and waved his arm – that had Kariya’s hand still on it – in Kariya’s direction and accidentally slapped his arm and Kariya’s hand right in the boy’s face. “Ow!” Kariya yelped as the visor he wore was pressed more against his face with the impact. He pulled his hand back fast, hoping Shuugo hadn’t noticed he was just pulling a prank. Shuugo froze as he inspected his arm, rolled up his sleeve but found nothing like a spider. Then the realization hit him that he just had slapped Kariya in the face. “Ah, sorry!” he said to the boy who was furiously rubbing his hands over his face and putting the visor back on straight. Shuugo turned away from the camera crew and grinned at him. “No time for pranks, Masaki.”  
Kariya blinked, confused. Did Shuugo just admit to hitting him on purpose? “Jerk…” Kariya groaned.   
They camera crew gave the signal that they were ready to continue, so the two of them turned around to face the new area. It was a long, seemingly empty and dark hallway. The floor of it was, again, covered in a light mist. A couple devices could be heard gently zooming as they produced the foggy substance. There were a couple lights turned on in the hallway, however. They seemed to come from framed pictures. With complete lack of caution – as per usual at this point – Shuugo walked towards the one nearby. “It’s a photo.” He said and went to describe. “Of a group of children.”  
Kariya looked around. When he looked back for a second he saw a couple of the cameramen nod at him, but they suspiciously held their distance. Kariya stepped onwards to take a look at the picture too. He recognized the building fairly well – it was Sun Garden. And the children… he also recognized a couple. Wait, that’d mean he’d be on it too- “Enough!” Kariya shrieked and pushed Shuugo forward, towards the next image. “That one’s not important.” He added.   
Kira shrugged and walked on to the next. “Do you think one of those images has a hidden button, or something?”  
“I hope not.”   
They expected the next few images – and Kariya grew more and more worried about the fact that the cameramen cautiously stayed in place. What kind of trap was awaiting them?   
“It’s a football team…?” Shuugo said as he looked at the third image. He poked the frame. Right at that moment, a strange sound emerged from the dark and it came closer FAST. Instinctively, the both of them ducked. “It’s a football?!” Kariya yelped as he took a look at the object when it came just past them. “We’ll have to dodge those, then…” He wondered if the camera team just was far bigger than just those following them right now and they would pass the task of recording the next room to the next team. Or were they supposed to turn off the device so the team could keep following them? Suddenly he realized the position of the lit-up photo frames really just resembled the shape of another arrow. Convenient, although it made enough sense they’d have to pass through. But how where they going to do that?   
“We could kick the ball back.” Shuugo concluded, as if reading the other’s thoughts.   
Kariya turned to give the other a strong, deadly glare. “We’re _not_ going to kick the ball back.”  
“I’m going to kick it back.” Shuugo said as he braced himself for the next sound as he stepped onward. Within seconds, a new ball was shot at them. Shuugo instinctively reached his leg out to perform a hissatsu shoot, to which Kariya responded with even more anger. “Idiot!” he cried out as he pushed Shuugo aside and clawed into the air. “Hunter’s net!”   
Purple lines forming a net formed in the hallway, blocking the entire path for just long enough to catch the ball. It dropped on the floor just in front of Kariya, who sighed and exaggeratedly wiped sweat off his forehead. “What if you’d _break_ something in here?! Not even seven years of my allowance would make up for that!”   
“Oh… right.” Shuugo said, trying to comprehend what the other’s allowance looked like that he couldn’t even afford to break anything. “But don’t worry! I’m a _striker,_ you don’t have to worry much about my aim-“  
“I will worry about a second team member’s attempt to strike a device in the dark.” Kariya bluntly answered. “Just leave it to me and my Hunter’s Net.”   
  
Somehow, Kariya’s way of handling this was enough to carry the both of them towards the device. It had a lit-up screen with a code lock on it. Kariya kneeled down next to the screen and looked back into the hallway. The camera crew seemed pretty absent. He looked the other way – ah, a lone camera was placed there to record them still. He looked back into the hallway. “Did we miss a code…?”   
“Try your birthday?”  
“Why?”  
“You know why.”  
 _Right, Midorikawa came up with most of those supposed tricks and traps. It could as well be._ Kariya tapped the screen and changed the digital lock’s code to match his birthday. Shuugo cooed. “It’s coming up soon, huh?”  
“Shut up.” Kariya said as he flicked the last number. The screen turned green and the machine turned off. The device seemed to also be connected to the lights and smoke machines once more. The lights gradually turned on in the hallway, starting from the camera team and moving towards them. Both of them sighed and waited for the camera crew to come over. They looked around to find the next directional hint. It was a door nearby.   
When the camera crew made it, both of them walked towards the door. Shuugo held the knob down and opened it…


	5. The server room

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> middle chapters are such an effort HAHAH sorry it took so long I'll be finishing this up soon ; v ;

“The air is so stiffening in here…” Kariya complained as he followed Shuugo into the room. It was mostly dark once more, with the exception of the emergency escape lights and the million lights coming from the various devices placed in the room. It seemed like a server room, or really just a hide-out even less tactically decorated than those of the Hackers in the Inazuma Town’s game center. Kariya wondered if it was even a good idea to record a room like this. What if _actual_ burglars or the like would enter the company one time at night just to steal important information from Kira Corp’s servers? Did Midorikawa absolutely forget about the possibility of that, or was he way too confident that that wouldn’t ever happen? Or maybe he had considered it and just had this room temporarily be put to use like this. You’d never know with the green-haired demon. The most important question at the time would perhaps be ‘what are we supposed to do in here?’. The two looked at the devices and Shuugo brushed his hand past one of the servers, quickly pulling back. “Hot..!” he hissed as he felt his hand burn. Shuugo looked around and scoffed. “Forgetting to put on air conditioning in a server room is like… waiting for explosions, isn’t it?”  
Kariya clicked his tongue. “It’s on purpose, don’t you think?”  
They walked onward to the center of the room, which seemed to be more of an open spot.  
Kariya squinted at the device in center but was quickly startled by it as it shot a laser beam in his direction. “Haaugh?!” he shrieked as he stumbled into Shuugo while attempting to avoid the shot. The other managed to keep him upright. They both looked at the object, trying to figure it out. Kariya sighed. “Okay, I assume we have to take out that laser that could… absolutely kill us if we’re not cautious enough, so that’s up to you to do that.”  
Shuugo scratched his head. “I guess. So, hey.”  
“… What?”  
“What do you think the villain named a device like that?”  
Kariya stared at the laser-shooting object. “… Deathbringer Laser Five Thousand, version: _senpai, just fucking get to it._ ”  
“Right, haha! Right.” Shuugo laughed at the idiocy of the name, but it definitely sounded like what a cartoon villain would name a laser-shooting device. “Now let’s take it out…”  
“You’re not going to shoot a football at it.”  
“What? But that’s really just the best idea-“  
Kariya slid closer and whispered a _‘I really don’t want Midorikawa to get mad at us for breaking anything’_ at the other, hoping it was quietly enough for the microphone to not pick it up, but for Shuugo to do hear him. He ignored him, obviously. He kicked a football up. Kariya groaned. “You actually brought one along..?!”  
“You didn’t notice?” He laughed. “Masaki! You should pay more attention.”  
“Ah-“ Kariya huffed as they both forgot they were supposed to be acting and Shuugo forgot about the formalities. Kariya let out a ‘cheh’-kind of sound as he realized his senpai wasn’t remotely considering fixing this mistake for the take.  
“Time to take it out!” Shuugo grinned. Kariya sighed and sat down on the floor like a pouty kid, arms crossed – refusing to watch. “Good luck missing, _senpai._ ”  
  
With his chest puffed out and eyes closed, Masaki tried his best to not respond startled as he heard the ball being kicked and the noise being followed up by sounds of things breaking. Kariya opened one eye, glancing over at the camera crew to gauge the response. It seemed mixed – some were absolutely pokerfaced in their serious attitude, some seemed excited about the shot and in the back there was someone ready to pull his hairs out. Kariya figured that was the one who helped build the device. As he kept gauging the response Kariya didn’t notice the footsteps coming closer to him and responded startled as Shuugo grabbed his shoulder. “Come on!” the Kira boy said as he tugged on Kariya to try and pull him up. “We need to get moving.”  
“Yes, yes, senpai.” Kariya groaned as he got back up on his feet and followed Shuugo past the now-broken laser-shooting device. Kariya tried to not mind the broken scene too much, although he felt a couple shivers thinking how Midorikawa may feel about it.  
  
They ended up at the door on the other side of the room. Obviously, it should be locked.  
“Oh, the door is locked.” Shuugo stated, probably for the camera. Kariya held the door handle down. To both their surprise, the door actually opened. They entered the next room.  
It was large, and mostly seeming empty, except for a pillar placed in the area to the left of them. The room has lights turned on, so it was far brighter. The two spent a couple seconds adjusting to the light before locating the next door. It was right in front of them, about 10 meters away. This one looked like it would indeed be locked. They walked towards it. Again, Kariya tried to pull the door handle. This time it didn’t budge an inch. Shuugo pointed at the panel next to it as Kariya gave up on the pulling. The latter sighed.  
“Protected by a code, huh. And the code is probably… on there?” Kariya asked, referring to the pillar in the middle of the open area in the room.  
“Yeah.” Shuugo nodded.  
“That’s suspicious… I don’t think we can probably just walk to it, can we?”  
“I can try-“ Shuugo smirked. Kariya grabbed his arm and held him back, then saw a light switch just behind Shuugo. Kariya dropped his grip and slid past his senpai to hit the light switch. As the lights turned off, laser beams became visible in the room. It seemed tricky, but someone as agile as himself could probably easily make it through. Kariya thought about it. Was it Midorikawa’s plan to let him shine here? Well, guess he’ll have to. “So to get the code, we need to make it through this laser labyrinth, I guess. Well, that’ll be up to me then… I’m not as stiff as you, senpai.” Kariya smirked and walked towards the first row of lasers.  
  
_Click, click. Bbbzzt.  
  
_That sounds didn’t come from the lasers. It came from the door. “…Mwuh?” Kariya asked as he turned around. Shuugo was grinning back at him. “Door’s open.”  
“Wait, how, - huh?”  
The dark-green haired senpai shrugged. “Figured it was either 1511 or 1115. First just sounded more reasonable.”  
“What???” Kariya was trying his best not to be angry with being outsmarted – but that Kira jerk was taking _his_ spotlight moment away like this!  
“Our back numbers.”  
And how did he even reason that! “How could you tell….?”  
“Well,” Shuugo shrugged. “There are shirts in the back there, and if you took a look at the floor instead of the lasers you could also read what’s there.”  
Kariya turned around to face the lasers again. Oh, there was indeed something seemingly written on the floor. He read it aloud. **“Kira corporation proudly sponsors youth football teams!”**  
Shuugo gave his underclassman a thumbs up. “Figured it’d be our back numbers, then.”  
“How did you even memorize mine when you only play against me from the front… Actually, I don’t care. Let’s get going.”  
  
They walked through the door, in a room that was somewhat darkened again. Except for some spotlights. And one was aimed at an adult in the room that seemed kind of familiar…


	6. Laser Tag

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Masaki and Shuugo end up in a laser tag battle against Kogure.

Both teenagers observed the figure. It was a nicely dressed man, with the exception of a strange looking plate around the man’s chest. On top of that, face and fancy clothes didn’t fully match. It was as if a little fantasy figure was put into a suit. The large pointed ears and big yellow eyes together with blue pointy hair left little space for speculation who it could be, though. Kariya was the first to identify him. “Isn’t that… Kogure who lives at Tenma’s…?”   
Shuugo halted and pointed at the adult. “You know him?”  
“Played football against him once, actually? Didn’t know he worked here.”  
“Yuk, yuk, yuk.” Kogure laughed. “So the spies have arrived…!”  
“Are you going to challenge us to a football battle…?”   
“Yuk, yuk, yuk!” Kogure kept laughing as he held his hand in front of his mouth, his shoulders shaking through this expression of joy. Shuugo shrugged. “That’s a weird way to laugh.”  
Kogure stopped. “What?”  
Kariya snickered. “Woooow…. You destroyed him. Well, guess that’s our pass on to the next room.” He shrugged and walked towards the next door.   
  
About halfway into the room, suddenly the spotlights turned off. Kogure’s laughing could still be heard but the sound was easily getting more and more muffled. In the darkness, suddenly a table lit up through the use of a small red flashing LED-strip edge. The teenagers figured they had to walk to the table. Once they reached it they realized there were gun-shaped devices on it. Kariya beamed in slight excitement. “That’s so cool…” he said as he grabbed one. A little cable was dangling from it. As Shuugo picked up the other gun, they noticed a little note with the text ‘plug it in your suit’ written on it. It was a tiny struggle, but the both of them managed to plug each gun into the respective odd dangly parts of their suits. For Kariya, it connected to the weird shape that was covering his chest; for Shuugo to the rings covering his.   
  
Finally, it hit what they were supposed to do – have a laser tag battle. Against Kogure and possibly a couple more employees. Kariya and Shuugo smirked at each other in a surprising understanding and then both ran in opposite directions to find cover each. Then, the room started flashing in a red light. The battle had begun.   
  
And it was _challenging_.   
  
Of course, a shootout in the dark was tough. The two of them weren’t aware how many opponents there were to begin with, although Kogure often would accidentally reveal himself with his laughter. Or perhaps it was on purpose?   
Throughout the battle, Shuugo found that there were two more opponents. So that would make it three adults (or better said, employees that were really willing to go through a workout) against the two teenagers. Of course, the teenagers would have the advantage that their sports background gave them a lot of stamina and agility. If necessary, even _hissatsu._ Although none of them seemed to know any hissatsu that would be usable in a laser gun fight.   
Through hand signals and the like, Kariya and Shuugo managed to get a plan and take the first opponent down. It was the most incredible teamwork they had pulled so far.  
  


And that’s also where the excellent teamwork ended.

  
“Masaki!” Kira shrieked as he made a jump, in front of the other. “Caref…augh!” He cried out as the outfit responded to being hit by a laser gun. _The third hit._ It was over. Kira Shuugo had _died_ in the match. He dropped himself to the floor, groaning and reaching his hand back to Kariya. Kariya sweatdropped. _Shuugo was really into this acting, huh?_ “Kira… No, Shuugo-senpai. Shuugo! Can you hear me!?”  
“Masaki… I… I’m sorry… This is how far I can go…”  
“Shuugo… no, we’ve made it so far together, you can’t leave me now?!” Kariya exclaimed, acting as distraught as he could, but his voice reached a couple strange pitches in his attempt. God. Pretending his partner in crime has fallen, it’s tough.   
“We’ve… almost made it… just ahead… is the room where the villain… resides… Masaki, take my gun and…”  
“Yeah, yeah, I’ll… do that. Thanks, Shuugo.” Kariya took the laser gun from Kira’s hands and stood back up. The enemy team should stop shooting now, right? They _do_ want the movie to continue, _right_? Kariya got back up, held himself back from purposely stepping on Shuugo’s pretend-lifeless body’s toes and angrily stepped towards the office door. He imagined a dark background track playing at the time. What kind of music were they going to edit in? Does the Kira Corp also have musicians employed? Kariya actually had little idea of what the company really was like, had he? As he walked, he noticed that Kogure and his team had indeed stopped shooting and let him do his dramatic walk. He figured an emotional speech was in supposed place. So much for acting natural. “Kira Shuugo… I will avenge you.” He said, grinning. It actually sounded kind of powerful.   
He held his grip on the laser gun tight as he opened the door.  
  
The room was, mostly, dark. Could he just flick the lights on? He shot a glance to a cameraman in the corner who carefully worked with light reflectors and figured the answer was probably a simple no. So this final scene was in the dark. There was a figure standing behind the desk, in front of the window. Staring outside. Wait – that – _oh, god._ How could he have even doubted it? Of _course_ it is Hiroto standing there menacingly.  
“Hiro—erugh,” Kariya realized his mistake fast – he couldn’t just address great Kira Corp’s CEO with his _first name,_ especially not in a dramatic setting like this. Of course, the opposite could easily work, but not for him. He had to be as respectful as he had to be to work-mode Midorikawa Ryuuji. Kariya wanted to yell ‘ _cut! cut! cut that out!’_ but figured if he just gave an angry look or the like and try again, they could just edit it out anyway. Kariya gritted his teeth and shot the glare, then tried again. “Kira-san. Of course. It could only have been you…”  
  
The red-headed figure turned around, a gentle smile plastered on his face. “So I see you’ve made it. I congratulate you.”  
  
“I… You… You expected Kira Shuugo to not make it?”  
  
“It isn’t as simple as that, _Masaki._ You were the _chosen one._ ”  
  
A loud click was heard and suddenly everyone cheered. “We did it!” “Wooo!” “Congrats!” “Great work, Kariya-kun!” “Kira-san, that was amazing!”   
“Huh?!” Kariya shrieked, all tension from the acting in the final scene leaving him in his confusion. “That’s it? That’s how it ends?”   
  
Kariya felt a frustrating feeling grow as nobody answered his questions, but Midorikawa and Shuugo walked into the room. Shuugo gave the other teenager a thumbs up. “Well done!”  
Midorikawa, still fully in his work mode, just huffed. “Get a move on, Kariya. We still need to take photographs.”  
Kariya, in his annoyed state, could only do an attempt at retorting. “Why, to sign them?”  
Some of the people in the room expected an annoyed response out of Midorikawa, but the secretary suddenly started laughing. “If you want to. Great business proposal, Masaki.”   
Midorikawa and Kariya received a few surprised looks from some of the employees. Hiroto clapped his hands as he walked towards the secretary and the teens. “Come on, you three, let’s go. Wonderful job, all of you.” Hiroto bowed lightly towards a couple of the other employees. “Thank you for your hard work!”   
  
After the photoshoot they finished things up together with the other employees. Surprisingly, Midorikawa wasn’t mad at all about the broken devices. He claimed to have calculated for that in the budget too. When everything was done, the four of them finally left the office in order to head to the buffet Midorikawa was looking forward to. Once they entered the car, Midorikawa fully switched off his work-mode attitude and became far friendlier again. He regularly thanked the teenagers for their cooperation and filled them in on what employees helped with what parts. The laser tag part was apparently even fully thought up by Kogure.   
  
The dinner buffet was full of fascinating food. Hiroto and Midorikawa spent some of the time interrogating Shuugo about how well Masaki has been behaving and such at school. The interrogation was like worried parents on a parent-teacher conference. Shuugo happily filled them in on anything embarrassing Masaki had done during football practice.   
  
After the dinner, they dropped Shuugo off at his mansion and headed back home. Exhausted, Kariya ended up going to his room right away to just head to bed. Tired as he was, he managed to sleep remarkably well that night.


	7. The viewing party

Kariya slogged his way to Raimon Jr. High. Although he slept very well after the long day, he was still very exhausted. A somewhat cheerful, but if anything irritatingly pretty voice spoke close by him. “Hey, Kariya.”  
The blue-haired teenager turned around to face his teammate. “Oh, Kirino…”   
Kirino smiled. “How’d it go?”  
“Didn’t I say _no_?”  
“I still wanted to ask.” The upperclassman laughed. “But judging from your face, seems like it was quite fun?”  
“… It was. Now s-shut up about it.”  
“Haha!” Kirino checked his watch. “Come on, Kariya. We’ll have to speed up to get to morning practice on time. Can’t keep the captain waiting.”  
“Yeah, yeah.”   
  
A month passed.   
  
“Kariya?” Kageyama crept up next to Kariya. It gave him shivers. Never knew he could come this terrifyingly close. Kariya cleared his throat to gesture the desire to have some personal space. “Yeah?”  
“Was that you in the commercial yesterday? That spy thing? In the block after the news?”  
Kariya felt an incredible shiver down his spine. It was already being broadcast? How had Midorikawa _failed to mention this_? Wasn’t the online release still a couple days away, anyway?  
  
Once class ended, Shinsuke was actively tapping on his phone. He eventually let out a surprised sound. “I found the web-page!” Shinsuke declared. “Let’s all watch it in the meeting room!”  
“No!?” Kariya yelped. “Why! Stop! No!”   
  
Frustrated, Kariya sat on the back row in the meeting room while a couple enthusiasts like Tenma, Hikaru and Shinsuke were in the front row. The people who pretended to not care but still went in to watch, like Kurama and Tsurugi, were seated halfway. For some reason, Hamano and Hayami were watching too. To Kariya’s relief, some people like Shindou were absent. Sangoku and Kirino were seated close to Kariya and would quietly laugh the more he slid down as the commercial movie was shown. It wasn’t a long movie – all of it had been cut down to just about 10 minutes and showing highlights of it, but _wow,_ that made all the blatant advertising even more obvious and embarrassing. What surprised Kariya during watching however, was all the bonus special effects that were added post-production. Hadn’t Midorikawa said that the effects would all be live to show off Kira’s best? So much for that.   
  
God. It was almost done. Just the final line. _It isn’t as simple as that, Masaki. You were the chosen one._ He mouthed along with how Hiroto spoke it on the screen. How did they even cut it after that?  
  
 _[ K I R A C O R P. ]  
  
_ It was a strange, funny voice blasting from the speakers. The screen was mostly black, with the exception of the company’s logo showing. “Really!?” Kariya hissed again, reliving the tension of recording the scene to begin with.   
  
“That was amazing…” Tenma cooed from the front row. “Kariya, you were really great!”   
“I can’t believe we’re classmates with a celebrity..!” Shinsuke cheered as he rose from his seat and ran up to the back row. “Can I have your autograph?”   
“Sure, if you pay for it.” Kariya joked. Before he could even say it was, the door of the meeting room slammed open, with Kira Shuugo running into it. “Excuuuuse me!” He hollered, but then noticed the credits were already showed on the screen. “Oooh… too late for the viewing party, huh.”   
  
“Everyone here agreed your acting was the worst.” Kariya smirked at the upperclassman. Kirino elbowed him. “Kariya, nobody here said anything like that!”  
Shuugo laughed as he walked past Sangoku and pat Kariya’s shoulder. “Well, Masaki sure did a job that’s tough to beat, isn’t it!”   
  
Yeah, to Kariya it felt like Shuugo wasn’t going to plan to stop being an absolute nuisance anytime soon. But maybe it wasn’t so bad to have him around. Although Kariya would never admit it, the movie recording was one of the most exciting things he’s done in a while outside of football. And even though the whole result of it is embarrassing to see, maybe it’d be something to look back on proudly. And hey, because of it all he’s been able to play Samurai Eleven on his own TV for the past month! Maybe sometimes it really is convenient to live together with a large company’s CEO and his secretary.   
  
Shuugo leaned in to whisper in Kariya’s ear. “So, about the sequel…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading!


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